6 Reasons You Should Share Your Story Of Struggle With The World‏

The topic I wanted to share with you today is all about sharing your story of struggle and why you should consider doing it. A leader that I know very well recently shared his story of struggle with his team. He is the kind of person that you wouldn’t expect to share the most interment details of his life with anyone.

The process of sharing his story of how he was raised and what it was like to not have a father around brought him to tears several times throughout him delivering this speech to a room full of his closest colleagues. What triggered his sudden urge to share his story was a case of cancer within his family.

It’s amazing how when we go through an experience that shows us we only have limited time on this earth, we start doing things that we wouldn’t normally do, and we start acting completely different with a new perspective on life.

Through this experience I had recently, below are the six reasons I believe that you should share your story of struggle with the world.

1. It makes you a leader

If you ever have a desire to be a leader, then you must be able to be vulnerable, put yourself in difficult situations and be willing to teach your followers all the wisdom that you possess. Sharing your story of struggle is a great way to do this, and it shows everyone that your willing to take a risk and do whatever it takes to inspire those around you.

Being a leader is a difficult job, and most people are capable of being a leader yet they never take the risk or decide to better themselves so that they can fulfill a leadership role. To be a leader you need to be able to lead by example and this is one way to do that.

Sharing a story of struggle for some people can actually bring out leadership qualities that they never thought they had. This is because the feeling that you get from inspiring others is very powerful, and when you get your first follower, you can easily be lead on a path of leadership that you will never turn back from.

2. It’s the blueprint for all success

I might be sounding a little over the top, but I believe that one the major factors in anyone’s success is when they share their story of struggle. If you look at any success story of our time, it’s the one common ingredient in every single example.

Whether it’s a business that came from nothing, or an athlete that achieved the impossible, it all started with them sharing their story of struggle with the world and using it to motivate them to achieve what most would consider to be impossible.

3. It’s the most courageous thing you can do

Courage is often described in many ways but to put yourself on the line and to risk the way that people perceive you is real courage. Humans are motivated by their emotions and sharing your story of struggle is all about emotion. Public speaking is one of the most feared activities that most of us do everything to avoid.

The most beneficial way to share your story is in the form of a speech and it also takes the greatest courage. If you don’t want to move straight to the hardest step, then try sharing your story of struggle online in a safe environment first.

Once you have built the muscle then maybe you could try sharing it in person with one or two people. From there you can keep building, and who knows, maybe one day you will share your story with a stadium of people like Les Brown did for many decades.

4. You’re proving that we are all equal

Many of us make the mistake of thinking that people who achieve massive success are somehow super human, or they were lucky. The reality, as we all know on Addicted2Success, is that this is not true and what really creates successful people are a number of traits and habits practiced daily, that create the slight edge in small steps, which compound over time into massive success.

By sharing your story of struggle, you are proving that we are all equal because each of us have our own story. If I was to ask everyone on Addicted2Success to tell me their story of struggle, I am sure that each of you would have at least one.

The reason we all have stories of struggle is because that’s what life is all about. We were put on this earth to overcome challenges through our own struggles and then share them with the world to help others overcome similar challenges. The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is quite small.

The successful have reframed their story of struggle into motivation, and the unsuccessful are using that same story as the excuse for why their life isn’t working out the way they want it.

5. You’re allowing people to see another side of you

Building rapport with other people is one of the most important traits that we all need no matter what we do for a living. To influence any outcome, you must always be coming from a position of rapport, which is actually quite hard.

The fastest way to build rapport is to show people another side of you that they wouldn’t normally expect to hear. Through hearing your story of struggle it helps them to relate to their own story and allows them to see another side of you.

Many of us reframe from showing different sides of ourselves on a daily basis. If you look at your Facebook newsfeed how many of you can see people that are showing only one side of themselves? How many people in the newsfeed are always showing how perfect their lives are and how everything goes their way?

If you look at Instagram, you might find a similar phenomenon. A lot of the photos that are on there are taken using professional cameras, perfect lighting and lots of Photoshop. You probably won’t find too many photos on their of people who haven’t brushed their hair or who have a really bad sunburn.

All of this is because we only want to show our good side, and we are scared of what showing our weaker side might do to the way people perceive us. I say forget about these rules and show all sides of yourself. It’s what the ultra successful do and your much more likely to attract good people in your life who like you for who you are.

6. The world can learn something from you

Every story of struggle has a lesson in there that the rest of the world can learn from. If you ever practice studying success like I have, you will find that a lot of what you will be doing is reading people’s stories of struggle. This is because all learning involves understanding some form of lesson and the most powerful way to do this is through real human stories.

This is why reality television has been so popular because it much easier to relate to real stories and events than it is to with fictional stories.

Just remember that someone else may be going through the exact same struggle that you have been through and by you sharing your story with the world, you could be giving someone the skills and inspiration they need to learn the lesson from their struggle. You might be the one small change that someone else needs to get their life back on track or change their ways and move towards success.

If you would like to share your own story of struggle, then feel free to in the comments section below or message it to me on my Facebook Page.

Tim is best known as a long-time contributor on Addicted2Success. Tim's content has been shared millions of times and he has written multiple viral posts all around personal development and entrepreneurship.You can connect with Tim through his website www.timdenning.net

13 Comments

Awesome article! Sharing your story of struggle is totally the fastest way gain trust with people because they see that you are just like them and are on their side. Of course, sharing your successes afterward is even more powerful as it helps influence people in a positive way.

Absolutely love this. One of my mentors has made most of his online income just from telling his story of struggle & overcoming his struggle, now he has his own course showing people how to tell their story powerfully. Everyone loves a story and everyone loves a story of struggle and overcoming a struggle.

Great article! I just recently started a new blog that is sharing the struggles I’m going through to do a live rags-to-riches (hopefully!) story. I appreciate the extra motivation this post provides. Thanks!

I feel like I’m still “in the making” of my own story of struggle, which I can’t really share as of this moment yet. 🙂

But you’re absolutely right–one must share at least one story. There was a time when I remembered the names of the people I did and still do admire simply because of their stories of struggle. There’s just priceless value in there. It’s true that you’d want to hear another person talk about a struggle that’s very similar to yours, but it’s also quite true that all struggles are the same–a struggle is a struggle–it only comes in many, many forms.

Inspiration makes the world go round! I bet there are lots of others who are also “in the making” of their own story.

Thanks so much Ethan. I agree that most stories of the struggle are similar, but sometimes you have to hear something lots of different ways before you have a bank of references that you can draw upon in times of fear.

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Why It’s So Important To Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone

So I completed a Snake Handling course 6 years ago and during the final test of the course, we were asked to capture and bag 5 of Australia’s Deadliest snakes in a small confined room. The room had a Tiger Snake, Dugite, King Brown, Death Adder and a Red-Bellied Black Snake all slithering around at the same time. I couldn’t believe what I had got myself into.

Snakes were one of the biggest fears of mine. I would imagine a snake running underneath my feet from time to time and I would actually bring my feet up off the floor to avoid getting entangled or bitten by these imaginary snakes I had created in my mind. I would even have nightmares about snakes biting me and it would wake me up in sweats in the middle of the night.

I could have never imagined doing this in my life but I did it because I knew that I had to get passed this ridiculous fear I had of snakes, and I am grateful I was able to show up for it.

Checkout this podcast episode where I share how You can Master your Sub Conscious Programming around your fears in 2 Steps:

“What Are Your Top 5 Fears?”

– Public Speaking

– Cancer

– Sharks

– Snakes

– Heights

Were at the top of the list for most people.

The instructor carried on with a story of how he had just arrived back from a trip to the Northern Territory of Australia to visit an aboriginal community where he had met a 7-year-old boy who was absolutely scared to death of spiders and the dark.

It did not matter what kind of spider it is, he was scared and that was that. This boy would hunt crocodiles and lizards but was scared of even the non-venomous spiders.

All he had learned from a very young age was that spiders are dangerous and that they WILL kill you, yet the crocodiles and snakes that the boy would play with and hunt for are by far more deadly than most spiders that your everyday human would come across.

He was taught between the crucial years of 1-6 yrs old that the dark is full of evil happenings and that spiders are incredibly deadly and will kill him if he goes anywhere near them. So he was devastated to sleep in the dark and would jump on near by people just to get away from a spider nearby.

I’m not here to say that spiders aren’t dangerous, they are, and some out there have the potential to kill you. This boy was right to be cautious around spiders but where he lacked knowledge, or the right information about these creatures, eventually left him fearful of something he had never really understood.

This boy is just an example of many other people out there that are limited by their fears because of the little that they know. The less you know, the more fearful you are. This is only human and we are naturally scared of the unknown.

So the key thing here is we need more “KNOWLEDGE!” and it is in our best interest to want to understand how things work if we want to become less fearful of what the wild and wonderful world we live in has to offer.

You have to “EXPERIENCE” things to have a better understanding of the activity or whatever it is you are most scared of.

Joel Brown – Certified Snake Handler

When you increase your knowledge you can grow to the level where your fear is set at, so when the two meet it creates a level called “RESPECT”.

This is the perfect level to be on because you will now have a respect for what you fear which will allow you to then work with it rather than being submissive and missing out on the wonderful feeling of successfully OWNING!the outer areas of your comfort zone.

Everybody has a fear of some sort and learning more about what you fear and even voyaging through your ‘un-comfortable zone‘ will prepare you for the hard knocks in life on your road to success.

I have a few more fears to conquer myself and I am happy to say that I have crossed ‘Snakes’ and a number of other top things off my list. I’m sharing this story with you in hopes that you too will face at least one or two of your fears. Not to say that “you did it“, but to prove that you can outgrow your own personal limitations.

Your fears could be holding you back, they could even be the final piece you need to experience a brand new lifestyle or a brave new world of fun.

So get out there, learn more and grow!

No matter the storm, may your Faith be stronger than your Fears – Joel Brown

Feature Image Original Source: Indiana Jones – Raiders Of The Lost Ark